In January 2016 the MoD confirmed that repairs would be carried out on all six Daring class warships in order to make sure they are fully operational.

A key factor in the multi-million-pound procurement of the destroyers was that they would not need a refit for at least 25 years, saving the naval budget significant costs in major dockyard maintenance periods.

In 2014 the Navy established Project Napier, a long term plan to improve power on all six Type 45 which includes new equipment and an upgrade the diesel generator system to provide greater resilience and integration with the main engines.

The estimated cost of repairs stands at £1 billion with many of the engineering parts including the diesel generators being bespoke items made just fore the Type 45 class.

The incident aboard HMS Duncan comes days after the MoD confirmed that the Harpoon missiles – the only antiship weapon on the Type 23 frigates and Type 45 destroyers is to be withdrawn from service.

As senior naval officers seek to make further saving to support the operational running costs of the new super carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, the defence select committee warned that the fleet is seriously short of warships.

In October 2016, Duncan, escorted by the frigate HMS Richmond, was dispatched by the Ministry of Defence to intercept and “man-mark” a fleet of Russian Navy vessels, including their flagship Admiral Kuznetsov, which were passing through the English Channel on their way to Syria.

The destroyer then escorted the fleet out of the Channel and into the North Atlantic.

A Royal Navy spokesperson said: “HMS Duncan experienced technical issues and will resume operations once a full assessment has taken place.”